The Republican National Committee hosted a teleconference call with reporters earlier, and clearly the big news from the discussion was the Republicans' Hispanic Outreach Director, Bettina Inclan, saying that Mitt Romney is "still deciding what his position on immigration is."
I think it was meant to be some kind of complement.
But there was something else in the same teleconference that struck me as interesting.
[Inclan] did slam Obama on immigration, saying Latinos were "incredibly disappointed" with his immigration policy and his failure to persuade Congress to enact immigration reform."He talked about uniting families and all he's done is deport more immigrants than any president in American history," she said. "It's another example of how he's failed the Hispanic community."
So, let me get this straight. According to the Republican National Committee, President Obama, that wild-eyed, amnesty-loving radical liberal, is deporting too many immigrants who entered the country illegally. This isn't an argument from a progressive Democrat; it's the argument being pushed by the RNC -- which is supposed to support increased deportations.
In other words, the Republican Party, at the national level, is supporting Mitt Romney, who opposes the DREAM Act and backs a cruel "self-deportation" agenda, and at the exact same time, the Republican Party is arguing that Obama is too far to the right on deportations.
Has the RNC simply given up altogether on being coherent?
The larger pattern, meanwhile, shows that Republicans have a habit of criticizing the president for agreeing with Republicans.
We saw this a couple of weeks ago, for example, when the Romney campaign complained about Obama imposing tough new sanctions on Iran, which Republicans agree with.
Similar, about a month ago, the Romney campaign complained bitterly about Obama approving a free-trade agreement with Colombia -- which Romney also supported.
Similarly, Karl Rove's attack operation, American Crossroads, recently launched attack ads in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, slamming Obama for not doing enough for the coal industry. In reality, not only has the president invested heavily in "clean coal technology," but coal production is up over the last three years, employment in the coal-mining industry is the highest it's been since 1997, and U.S. coal exports have soared, reaching levels unseen in decades.
American Crossroads is bashing Obama for doing what the right hoped he'd do. It's not identical to the "I'm rubber, you're glue" tactic Romney is so fond of, but it's certainly close.
Given all that Democrats and Republicans have to fight about, isn't it odd that Republicans keep complaining about Obama agreeing with Republicans?